1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for increasing the visibility of low-contrast images. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for increasing the visibility of selected areas of an image which differ only slightly in brightness from another area in said image by causing said selected areas to periodically vary in brightness while maintaining the brightness of said other area constant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The amount of information that can be readily extracted from a photograph or other image is often limited by the low contrast between different areas of the photograph. For example, in aerial photography, as well as in many other applications, a particular object of interest may not be clearly discernible because its brightness level differs only very slightly from that of the surrounding background.
There are a variety of image enhancement techniques available in the prior art which are capable of enhancing the visibility of objects in an image field. However, these techniques are generally quite complex, require the use of large and expensive computers, and are not capable of real-time operation.